Arrangement for pasting metal foils on bottles in tin-foiling machines and the like



April 23, 1968 R. PAGAY 3,379,60i

ARRANGEMENT FOR PASTING METAL POILS ON BOTTLES IN TIN-FOILING MACHINESAND THE LIKE Filed May 4, 1964 FiG.1 \a' United States Patent 3,379,601ARRANGEMENT FOR PASTING METAL FOILS 0N BOTTLES IN TIN-FOILING MACHINESAND THE LIKE Roger Pagay, Lyon, France, assignor to Societe Baele-Ganglolf, Vilieurbanne, France Filed May 4, 1964, Ser. No. 365,858Claims priority, application France, May 9, 1963, 43,624, Patent1,376,512 6 Claims. (Cl. 156-568) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A devicefor applying metal foils onto bottles moving along a particular path, inwhich there is provided a fixed plate having a suction opening ontowhich the sheets of foil are placed one at a time, and a cylinder whichis continually rotated and which carries a pincer which opens and closesautomatically for gripping the free edge of the foil supported on theplate and conveying it towards the bottles while passing in its movementfrom the plate to the bottle in contact with a guiding cylinder.

This invention relates to foil applying apparatus.

Many bottles are conventionally covered in part with a sheet of foilchiefly aluminum foil, of a generally rectangular shape which is to bepasted over the neck of a bottle, generally in a position such that thediagonal lines of said foil lie in planes respectively parallel andperpendicular to the axis of the bottle. For such a pasting, it is ofadvantage to apply glue either on the metal foil or on the neck of thebottle.

In the first case, the transfer is performed through the agency of twoglue-carrying metal blades engaging the metal foil and guiding it ontothe path of the bottle, which, as it passes in front of it, engages thefoil of which the two lateral edges have been coated with glue throughcontact with the two blades. Such a method is however suitable only formachines working at a low speed, that is for machines the output ofwhich does not exceed 3,000 bottles per hour.

In the second case, it is possible to reach higher speeds, but otherdrawbacks are to be taken into account, to wit:

It is necessary to use a comparatively hard glue for the foil to adhereto the bottle in a moist condition; said hardness leads however to anirregular distribution of glue and consequently to the possibleformation of important extra thicknesses which produce bulges in thefoil when laid in position, in a manner determimental to the aestheticappearance of the bottle; such unevennesses in the distribution of theglue lead furthermore in their turn to a uselessly large consumption ofglue.

In the case of an application of the foil in a diamond position, that isin the position referred to hereinabove, the overlapping of the twohorizontally pointing tips of the foil is very important; now, the foilis not glued in the vicinity of said tips, which requires an abundantwetting of the rear surface of the foil during the coating operationwith a view to constraining a portion of the glue to pass off the neckof the bottle to engage the interval between the superposed tips of thefoil; such a wetting leads however to serious drawbacks since, not onlyis it only a mere contrivance for cutting out as far as possible theabove-mentioned defect, but furthermore, it acts detrimentally on theaccurate application of further labels which are sometimes to be appliedsimultaneously over the neck of the bottle.

My invention removes said drawbacks and it has for its object anarrangement for laying a foil on a bottle at a very high speed with auniform distribution of the glue Patented Apr. 23, 1968 and a reducedconsumption of the latter, while resorting to the first method, that isa coating of the foil with glue.

My improved arrangement includes to this end, on the one hand, astationary plate over which the metal foils are laid in succession, thebreadth of said plate being less than the breadth or the diagonal lineof the foil, said plate being provided with suction ports and on theother hand, a cylinder assuming a rotary movement and carrying at leastone automatically opening and closing pincers, the part played by whichconsists in clamping the free edge of the metal foil which is held inposition by the abovementioned plate and in feeding it to the bottlewhile causing the foil to engage, during its transfer movement, aglue-coated cylinder which lays glue on the foil.

The number of pincers provided on the rotary cylinder may be selected asdesired. Thus, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, thecylinder carries four pincers including each a movable jaw pivotallysecured to the cylinder and a stationary jaw forming the end of a pad ofyielding material over the outer surface of which the foil is urged bythe glue-carrying cylinder as it is being transferred by said pincerstowards the path followed by the bottles.

The accompanying diagrammatic drawing illustrates, by way of example andin a nonlimiting sense, a preferred embodiment of said arrangement. Insaid drawings:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively a view from above and a sectional viewthrough line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

Insaid drawings, 2 designates the foil which, as well known per se, iscarried by a transfer arm 3 after it has been cut to the desired sizeand shape, said arm 3 assuming an oscillating movement, as shown by thearrow 4, said arm being equipped with sucking discs 5 adapted to takehold of the metal foil 2.

In FIG. 1, 6 designates the area of the tinfoiling machine adapted toaffix metal foils within which each foil is laid over the bottles 7which, as also known per se, assume simultaneously an arcuatetranslational movement in the direction of the arrow 8 and a rotarymovement round their own axis.

The arrangement forming the object of my invention extends between thetransfer arm 3 and the area 6 of the tin-roiling machine. Saidarrangement includes chiefly the following parts:

A stationary plate 9 of which the height is larger than the maximum sizeof the foils 2, but the breadth of which is much less. Said plate 9 isprovided along one of its surfaces with slots 10 connected with suctionchannels.

A small cylinder having a vertical axis 12, arranged to the rear of theplate 9 and of which the periphery is in contact with a cylinder 13 of alarger diameter and a fraction of the periphery of which is housedinside a glue container 11. These two cylinders 12 and 13 are adapted torevolve in the directions of the corresponding arrows 14 and 15. Acylinder 16 keyed to a vertical shaft 17 assumes a continuous rotarymovement in the direction of the arrow 18. Said cylinder 16 carries fourpads 19 made of a yielding material, such as rubber. Said cylinder 16carries furthermore [four spindles 21 carrying each a pivoting arm 22,the lower end of spindle 21 carrying a roller 23 running over astationary cam 24 during the rotation of the cylinder 16. Each arm 22forms, in association with the corresponding substantially radialsurface of a pad 19, pincers opening and closing automatically duringeach revolution of the cylinder 16, at predetermined moments defined bythe Outline of the cam 24.

The operation of this arrangement is as follows:

The cfoil 2 being brought by the transfer arm 3 onto the plate 9 is heldon the latter as provided by the suction ports 10. Said foil projectshowever beyond said plate 9 towards the rotary cylinder 16 asillustrated in FIG. 1. Consequently, immediately after an arm 22 haspassed in front of the foil, the pincers formed by said arm and thecooperating front surface of the carrier pad 19 lying to the rear of thearm close and take hold of the end of the foil 2 which is then carriedalong by the cylinder 16, while it slides not only along the plate 9which has a tendency to hold it back, but also over the smallglue-coated cylinder 12 which lays thus glue over the rear surface ofthe foil, except the part of its area which is held fast inside thepincers. After the foil has been thus coated with glue, it continuesmoving in the same direction towards the tinfoiling machine and itreaches finally the neck of a bottle 7 over which it is laid; when thefoil has been thus partly afi'ixed over the neck of a bottle, thepincers open, and the foil is henceforward carried along solely by theneck of the bottle round which neck it is pasted completely in awell-known manner, for instance by means of a pad of sponge rubber.

It should be remarked that, as already disclosed hereinabove, a smallportion of the foil has not been coated with glue, to wit that portionwhich is held inside the pincers. This does not lead however to anydrawback since said portion is precisely that which is folded back firstover the neck of the bottle, so as to be subsequently covered by theopposite end of the foil which latter end has been coated with glueduring the transfer of the foil by the pincers from the plate 9 onto thebottle.

What I claim is:

1. In a bottle tinfoiling machine including a path along which thesuccessive bottles move, a transfer system for transferring metal foilsonto bottles moving along said path, said system comprising a stationaryvertical plate, means supplying successive metal 'foils against saidplate in projecting relationship therewith, means releasably holdingsaid successive foils against said plate, a gluecoated cylinder having avertical axis, movable pincers adapted to clamp in succession the foilson the plate and to remove the foils from the latter against the forceof the means releasably holding the foils against the plate, meansshifting said pincers to make each foil removed from the plate pass overthe glue-coated cylinder and engage the corresponding bottles, and meansreleasing the foils from the the pincers 'when the foils have reachedthe corresponding bottles to allow the foils to remain on the respectivebottles.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means releasably holdingthe foils against said plate is a suction means.

3. A system as claimed in claim 2 wherein each of said pincers includesa displaceable arm and a relatively fixed member which is fixed inrespect of said arm, the fixed member being moved along a path intowhich a foil to be grasped protrudes, said fixed member including ayieldable section against which the grasped foil lays as said fixedmember moves along said path, said glue coated roller sandwiching thegrasped foil against the yieldable section for the application of glue.

4. A system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the means shifting the pincersis a rotatable cylinder and the means releasing the foils includes a camand cam follower operating the pincers at predetermined positions alongsaid path.

5. A system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the breadth of said plate isless than the breadth of said foils.

6. A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said plate extends generallyradially towards said rotatable cylinder, and wherein the meanssupplying the foils includes a pivotable arm swingable towards and awayfrom the plate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,858,954 11/1958 Tuthill156--493 2,936,921 5/1960 Schulz 156-568 2,952,299 9/1960 Finke 156 5103,202,564 8/1965 Carter 156-571XR 3,222,059 12/1965 Southcott 156--571XREARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner.

H. F. EPSTEIN, Assistant Examiner.

